Feat of achievement for marathon runners

Local runners were among the thousands who converged on the capital on Sunday for the 30th annual London Marathon.Reporter Mike Pyle found out how they got on.

A headteacher stood out from the crowd among 36,000 who took on the gruelling 26.2-mile run – with his beard dyed pink!

Easthampstead Community School head Gordon Cunningham was one of the more distinctive runners in the race, his pupils having voted ‘pink’ as their colour of choice when he agreed to dye his beard for the occasion.

Mr Cunningham said: “I finished in five hours and 48 minutes – I was getting called ‘red beard man’ all the way around!

“I had sore legs afterwards but everything else is fine. I trained quite a lot apart from the hiccup on the way back [from Cape Town in South Africa when he was stranded for several days in Dubai because of the ash cloud].

“I think a lot of the children from school will have watched it on the TV hoping their headteacher would fall over.

“It was incredible, the whole way round there were hundreds of people lining the route.”

Gordon did the race to raise money for the Youth Sport Trust.

He added: “So far we’ve raised just over £3,000 and there’s still money coming in.”

Birch Hill neighbours Jo Elkes, a novice runner, and experienced runner Alex Tabb did the marathon to raise money for Great Ormond Street Hospital because Jo’s daughter Grace, two, underwent life-saving surgery at the London hospital.

Jo said: “It went really well, I had an amazing day.

“The heat zapped me a bit and I can’t tell you how sore my feet are but I finished!

“I did it in about six-and- a-half hours and Alex did it in three hours and 50 minutes. The crowd and the atmosphere were excellent and we had lots of friends and family there. There were even kids with bowls of sweets that they were handing out.”

More donations are coming in but so far the pair have raised more than £4,600.

Mark Hunt, 37, did the marathon despite being diabetic and being one of a few people in the UK who rely on a pump to administer insulin into his blood.

Illness meant the day care centre assistant manager didn’t do as well as he hoped but he still managed to complete the race.

He said: “I did complete it but did not perform at all well.

“Unfortunately I went down with a heavy cold a few days before and was all bunged up and could not breathe.

“After about six miles I then got an upset stomach and was not at all well from mile 17 to 22.

“It was also quite warm and humid.

“I saw my family at 22 and got some inspiration and dragged myself over the line in six hours and 53 minutes – well over my anticipated time.

“The crowds were fantastic, I was just in no mood to appreciate them and did not get to enjoy it the way I wanted to.”

Mark says he is determined to do the race again and improve on his time but has still exceeded his fundraising target and expects to donate around £2,250 for Diabetes UK.

Helen Dobbs, 21, from Binfield produced her best time in three London Marathons – five hours and four minutes.

The aeronautical and aerospace engineering student at Southampton University is about to go for officer’s selection at the RAF.

She ran for Children with Leukaemia and is not sure yet how much she has raised.

Visit bmycharity.ocm/helendobbs if you want to contribute.

Other runners included 37-year-old Little Sandhurst man Richard Cornwell who did the marathon to raise money for the Royal Marsden Cancer Campaign, Bracknell man Adam Bispham who split his sponsorship between Thames Hospicecare and sick children’s charity Starlight and Pat Moody from Binfield who ran for Cats Protection.